The instant they did so they were saluted with showers of boiling pitch, while pots full of Greek fire were thrown down upon them.

Those who tried to climb up the side of the Bonito were speared with lances or cut down with battleaxes.
The combat was of short duration.

Many of those on whom the boiling pitch had fallen jumped overboard in their agony, while others did the same to escape the Greek fire, which they in vain endeavoured to extinguish.

The fire quickly spread to the woodwork, and in five minutes after the beginning of the fight, the two craft dropped astern from the Bonito, with the flames already rising fiercely from them.
In the meantime the other vessels had not been idle, and a storm of missiles was poured upon the Bonito.

The fate which befell their comrades, however, showed them how formidable was the vessel they had regarded as an easy prey, and when the first assailants of the Bonito dropped astern, none of the others cared to take their places.
"Man the oars again!" the captain ordered, and the Bonito again moved forward, her crew stooping behind the bulwarks, while the archers only rose from time to time to discharge their shafts.
"The thing I am most afraid of," the captain said to Francis, who was standing beside him, "is, that they will ram us with their prows.